It was so incredibly cold in the Northeast this weekend––even though the heat was cranking non-stop, the house still felt really drafty! Weather like this really makes me crave something spicy, preferably soup. Spicy beef noodle soup to be exact.
I love this Spicy Beef Noodle Soup recipe because of its simplicity. It doesn’t get any more difficult than taking out two stock pots (and if you don’t have two stock pots, you can start with a smaller pot to boil the beef…but you will need to add boiling water to the soup base in the larger pot before simmering).
This step of boiling the beef beforehand is key to ridding the beef of any “impurities.” Many readers question this step…so we decided to actually include a photo that shows what those impurities look like! I usually don’t keep the water used to boil the beef, but since we are making a soup base and we need all the beef flavors we can get, I decided to strain it and use the water for the soup. I’ve tried different cuts of beef for this recipe, but the best I’ve used is chuck––the same kind of beef you’d use for a pot roast!
By the way, if you don’t like spicy food, you can make a variation of this spicy beef noodle soup recipe using regular (non-spicy) bean sauce. Also, I used 2 tablespoons of Sichuan peppercorns. If you’re not too keen on the numbing sensation, reduce it to 1 tablespoon.
As for the noodles, you can choose whatever noodles you’d like to use. Just remember to cook them in a separate pot. After combining the noodles, beef, and soup in a bowl, top with scallions and cilantro, and you’re ready to conquer the cold!
Recipe Instructions
You’ll need two large pots to make this recipe. Fill one large stock pot with 16 cups of cold water. Add the ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and beef chunks.
Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and set aside.
See all that foam at the surface of the liquid? That’s why we do this step!
(I used a wok so we could show the steps more clearly, but you can use the 2nd stock pot for the next stage of the recipe).
Heat the oil in another stock pot or large wok over medium low heat, and add the Sichuan peppercorns, garlic cloves, onion, star anise and bay leaves.
Cook until the garlic cloves and onion chunks start to soften (about 5 – 10 minutes). Stir in the spicy bean paste.
Then add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Finally, stir in the light soy sauce and sugar. Turn off the heat.
Now, let’s scoop out the beef, ginger, and scallions from the 1st pot and transfer them to the 2nd pot. Then, pour in the stock through a fine mesh strainer.
Place the pot over high heat, and add in the dried tangerine peel. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook for 60-90 minutes.
After simmering, turn off the heat, but keep the lid on, and let the pot sit on the stove (with the heat off) for another full hour to let the flavors meld together. Your soup base is done. Remember to bring the soup base to a boil again before serving. As an optional step, pick out the beef, strain the soup if you mind the floating spices and aromatics in the soup.
Cook your noodles in a separate pot according to the package instructions, and divide among your serving bowls (you can get 8-10 servings out of your pot of soup and beef).
Top the bowls with hot broth, beef, scallions, and cilantro.
Serve this spicy beef noodle soup piping hot! If you still have leftover stock and beef, you can freeze it and reheat for future meals.
Spicy Beef Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 16 cups cold water (3.8L)
- 6 slices ginger
- 3 scallions (washed and cut in half)
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
- 3 lbs beef chuck (1.3 kg, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks)
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 heads garlic (peeled)
- 1 large onion (cut into chunks)
- 5 star anise
- 4 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup spicy bean paste
- 1 large tomato (cut into small chunks)
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 large piece of dried tangerine peel
- fresh or dried wheat noodles of your choice
- Chopped scallion and cilantro (to garnish)
Instructions
- You’ll need two large pots to make this recipe. Fill one large stock pot with 16 cups of cold water. Add the ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and beef chunks. Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and set aside.
- Heat the oil in another stock pot or large wok over medium low heat, and add the Sichuan peppercorns, garlic cloves, onion, star anise and bay leaves. Cook until the garlic cloves and onion chunks start to soften (about 5 - 10 minutes). Stir in the spicy bean paste. Then add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Finally, stir in the light soy sauce and sugar. Turn off the heat.
- Now, let’s scoop out the beef, ginger, and scallions from the 1st pot and transfer them to the 2nd pot. Then, pour in the stock through a fine mesh strainer. Place the pot over high heat, and add in the tangerine peel. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook for 60-90 minutes.
- After simmering, turn off the heat, but keep the lid on, and let the pot sit on the stove (with the heat off) for another full hour to let the flavors meld together. Your soup base is done. Remember to bring the soup base to a boil again before serving. As an optional step, pick out the beef and strain the soup if you’d like to remove the spices and aromatics from the broth.
- Cook your noodles in a separate pot according to the package instructions, and divide among your serving bowls (you can get 8 generous servings out of your pot of soup and beef). Top the bowls with hot broth, beef, scallions, and cilantro. Serve piping hot!
- Note: If you still have leftover stock and beef, you can freeze it and reheat for future meals.
nutrition facts
I made this recipe with alterations and it was BOMB!
Homemade noodles were made. I used New York steak, with a salt prep and pepper sautéed with butter 3 minutes per side. Medium rare sliced and sautéed off later mixing everything together! I added T. Soy sauce, rice vinegar, and Shiitake mushroom. Topped off with ramen marinated eggs. The only change I would make is cut the hot sauce to half or more. I only put in 1/4 c and would cut it down to 1/8c.
Sounds fabulous, Susanna, so glad you enjoyed it.
I made this soup, minus the anis star and tangerine peel, they were sold out at the time.
It so so delicious and it wil be a redo for another meel prep week.
Mine was not read like the pictures, I was wishing to get this nice red broth. any tips?
Add some chili oil when eating.
Cooked it yesterday, followed the recipe 100% (just added some chili oil)
Its very easy to cook, just takes some time, but its totally worth it. Best soup ever!
That’s lovely! Thank you for your lovely comment.
i know this is literally a BEEF noodle soup buuuuut.. do you think a mushroom base would work? Like make a dried mushroom/veg broth instead of the beef stock in step 1? i think i would really enjoy these flavors but i dont cook meat often. any suggestions? ty so much!
Yes, Chey, mushroom soup base will work. Remember to braise mushrooms with sauces and little bit of water for 30 minutes, then add more water and turn it into a soup base by simmering for another hour or so.
Would it be possible to make this recipe in an instapot?
Yes, Barbara, here is our instant pot recipe.
The recipe for the beef noodle soup is really nice, with all the fresh vegetables. we can also add some kokumi to it just to make food tasty and quick. read more about kokumi-
https://www.ajinomoto.com/innovation/action/kokumi-substances
Thank you for sharing, Sharon.
I switched the spicy bean paste with Gochujang and also added in some sichuan chilli oil. It seems there was no frothing from my beef either, so after I cooked the spicy sauce separate I added it back into the original beef stock pot. Best soup ever. Thanks, really great recipe!
I am glad you can adapt it to your liking. Good job, Helen :-)
One more question. -im planning to serve this during CNY, but was wondering if I could prepare it the evening before and place on the stove next day. Have you done that before? wondering what it does to the taste / texture.
Hi Sandra, you can make everything ahead of time (like the night before) except the noodle step. You can then cook the noodles and reheat the beef soup when you are ready to serve.
It was a hit!!! Thank you so much, Judy :-D Will definitely make this again.
Yayyy! So happy to hear that :-)
How many packets of noodles to you place in this? Sorry, noob here!!
Hi Sandra, cook the noodles separately and keep them separate like you’d do with pasta and spaghetti sauce, to avoid waste.
We loved this soup!!! I DID make a few changes. My husband and I don’t care if the broth in our soup is “cloudy” or clear so long as it tastes good. So, I seared the beef (I think it adds more flavor), put the spices in a cheesecloth bundle. After cooking I added a small amount of a cornstarch slurry to SLIGHTLY less watery and did NOT strain the broth. Removed the cheesecloth bundle and the scallions, ginger slices and tangerine peel at the end of the cooking time. It all went in one soup pot. Cooked the noodles separately and ladled soup on top. YUMMY!!!
All very good tips, Rebecca. Thank you so much for sharing.